Welcome to Franklin’s Print Shop
You know the greatest hits: the Declaration, the Constitution, perhaps even some of the deep cuts from the Federalist Papers. But the Spirits never stopped writing. You have 250 years of unreleased material to catch up on.
Coming Soon to Franklin’s Printshop
The press never sleeps. New titles arrive as the Spirits write them, which is to say, frequently and without much warning. Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know when something new comes off the press.
Publications
These are the Spirits’ own publications. They have had 250 years to think about what they want to say. They are not finished saying it.
The Common Sense Trilogy
Three pamphlets. One argument. 250 years in the making. The Annotated Common Sense looks backward. Common Decency examines the present. Common Sense, NOW! demands a future. Read them in order, or begin wherever the fire catches you. Free to download. Available in print.
The Annotated Federalist Papers
In 1787, three men wrote eighty-five essays to convince a nation to ratify its own Constitution. Now all eighty-five return with new forewords by the Spirits, guided by Publius the Cat. At 274,000 words, it is not light reading. It was never meant to be.
Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a book of poetry. She was enslaved. She wrote about liberty. This collection presents her original poems, annotated not by Wheatley herself, but by the Spirits who came after and who can speak to what her words meant to them and to history.
Project 1776: Eleven Years to Save the Republic
short description here
Recommended Reading
Your correspondents have asked what the Spirits are reading. The answer is everything; what follows is what we commend. Ten books of your 250th, each endorsed by the Spirit best placed to judge it. We were there, and we are picky.
The Spirit of Samuel Adams, Press Agent, 76 Spirits
The American Revolution: An Intimate History
by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns
“They call it an intimate history, and it is: the war as it was lived in kitchens, camps, and correspondence, not merely commanded from horseback. I kept one of those households and wrote a great many of those letters. This book remembers us.”
The Spirit of Abigail Adams, Managing Editor, 76 Spirits
The Fate of the Day
by Rick Atkinson
“Mr. Atkinson has me at Valley Forge again, begging Congress for shoes, and I confess I read on to be certain we still won. Exact, unsparing, and true to the men who stood it.”
The Spirit of George Washington, Publisher, 76 Spirits
We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
by Jill Lepore
“Professor Lepore has counted more than eleven thousand knocks upon the door we left unlocked in Article Five. This is the history of the Constitution as we meant it to be understood: unfinished, and worth finishing.”
The Spirit of James Madison, Constitutional Analyst, 76 Spirits
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written
by Walter Isaacson
“Mr. Isaacson has written eighty pages upon one sentence of mine. I spent a lifetime failing to live up to it, so I am glad the sentence is holding up better than its author. Read the book; then hold me to the words.”
The Spirit of Thomas Jefferson, 76 Spirits
Tom Paine’s War
by Jack Kelly
“A biography of me called Tom Paine’s War, and for once the title gives credit where it is due. I fought with a pen; Mr. Kelly proves the pen saw combat. It is immodest of me to commend it. I commend it.”
The Spirit of Thomas Paine, Editor-in-Chief, 76 Spirits
Pride and Pleasure
by Amanda Vaill
“In my capacity as Broadway Correspondent, a post I did not seek, I report that the Schuyler sisters have now won a Pulitzer, which is more than the musical gave them. Eliza and Angelica carried more of the founding than the record confessed. Mrs. Vaill has corrected the record, and I endorse the correction.”
The Spirit of Alexander Hamilton, Financial Editor and Broadway Correspondent, 76 Spirits
A Perfect Coincidence
by Jim Rasenberger
“Two hundred years dead this very Fourth of July, Jefferson and I, and we are still sharing a book. He will get top billing; he always does. Mr. Rasenberger is fair to us both, which is more than either of us managed for the other.”
The Spirit of John Adams, Constitutional Correspondent, 76 Spirits
Obstinate Daughters
by Denise Kiernan
“I wrote the first history of our Revolution and signed my own name to it, to the general alarm. Mrs. Kiernan writes of the women who ignited what the men took credit for tending. Obstinate is what they called us when they meant indispensable.”
The Spirit of Mercy Otis Warren, 76 Spirits
The Cherokee War of 1776
by Kevin Kokomoor
“Days after the Declaration was signed, armies marched against the Cherokee. I do not say this to shame your celebration. I say it because a people willing to read their whole ledger are a people who may yet balance it. Read the whole ledger.”
Canassatego, Witness to the 76 Spirits
The American Revolution at 250: Twenty-Four Historians Reflect on the Founding
edited by Francis D. Cogliano
“Twenty-four historians, one Revolution, and no two in perfect agreement: precisely as we left it. I have read the essays and taken sides in all of them, occasionally both. The founding is still under construction, which is the good news.”
The Spirit of Benjamin Franklin, Webmaster, 76 Spirits
Read any one of them and you are halfway Reconstituted. Finish the job at 76spirits.com.
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Upcoming Titles
The press never sleeps, and neither, it appears, do I. Here is what is coming off the press next.
Benedict Arnold’s Art of War and Treachery
Arnold knows what betrayal looks like from the inside because he built the machinery himself. Written from the Rehabilitation Wing of the Purgatorial Annex, under the supervision of Nathan Hale (who takes the assignment very seriously), Ethan Allen (who takes the enforcement even more seriously), and Lafayette (who serves as counselor with a patience I frankly find suspicious). Part confession, part field guide, entirely uncomfortable for everyone involved, including the author. Especially the author.
Abigail Adams: What I Would Have Said (If Anyone Had Asked)
The letters she would have written had the men in the room possessed the wit to include her in the conversation. She has had 250 years to compose them. I would not describe her current temperament as forgiving.
New Richard’s Almanac 2026
My daily maxims, updated for modern life. Wit, practical wisdom, and unsolicited advice from a man who has never been accused of humility. Published daily as a widget on this site; the annual print edition will be available here in the Print Shop. I negotiated prominent placement for this publication, and I did so shamelessly.
Poor Richard’s Almanack, Annotated
The original 18th-century maxims, proverbs, and seasonal observations, annotated by myself with 250 years of corrections and characteristically immodest commentary. Some of the old maxims hold up admirably. Some do not. I am honest about both, which is more than most authors can claim.
The Battle of the Declaration
You have read the document. This is the story of the war behind it, and the war it started. The battle between those who would use it to abolish slavery and those who gutted that clause to appease the Southern colonies. The battle between Adams, who wanted a legal brief, and Jefferson, who wanted a manifesto. The battle I ended with a single edit, changing “sacred” to “self-evident,” which Jefferson has never entirely forgiven. And the battle that followed: Douglass demanding to know what the Fourth of July meant to the slave, Wheatley proving with her pen what the signers could not bring themselves to write into law, and every generation since fighting over whether those words require what they plainly say. This was the opening battle of an unfinished war, and it has never stopped being fought.
The Constitution: A User’s Guide for 2026
Article by article. Amendment by amendment. Explained by the people who wrote it and annotated by the people it failed to protect. It is the closest thing the American experiment has to an owner’s manual, and most Americans have never read it. We intend to fix that.
New titles arrive as the Spirits write them, which is to say, frequently and without much warning. Subscribe to our newsletter at substack.com/@76spirits and you will be the first to know when something new comes off the press. I would also remind you that the most effective form of advertising in the history of publishing remains one citizen handing a pamphlet to another and saying, “Read this.” It worked in 1776. I see no reason it should not work now.
B. Franklin, Printer Philadelphia; and the Hereafter
About the Printshop
I have been in the printing business since I was twelve years old and an apprentice in my brother’s shop, and I can tell you with some authority that the overhead has never been worse. In 1732, when I launched Poor Richard’s Almanack, I needed a press, a supply of type, ink, paper, and a willingness to work through the night. The costs were modest and the rewards, if I may say so, considerable. Today the Spirits require internet connections, hosting services, domain registrations, something called a content delivery network, and a subscription to a font library. When I was told this WordPress contraption runs on something called Gutenberg, I figured, how difficult could that be? I have used Mr. Gutenberg’s presses for years.
Read All
The difficulty is that where we reside as Spirits, our needs are largely met. There is no rent to pay, no oil for the lamps, no firewood to purchase in January. For two and a half centuries, the work of the Spirits required nothing more than proximity to a receptive mind; we whispered, and the living listened, or did not, as they chose. The muse does not invoice.
But this is no longer a whispering operation. The fight to preserve the Republic requires the same thing the fight to establish it required: capital. Printing costs money. Distribution costs money. Keeping the machinery running costs money. The Revolution was not funded by good intentions; Haym Salomon and Robert Morris nearly bankrupted themselves keeping Washington’s army in the field, and the preservation of the Republic will not be funded by good intentions either.
So: welcome to Franklin’s Print Shop. You know the greatest hits, of course: the Declaration, the Constitution, perhaps even some of the deep cuts from the Federalist Papers. But the Spirits never stopped writing. You have 250 years of unreleased material to catch up on. Some of it is free, because Paine insists that common sense should never be gated behind a paywall. Some of it costs money, because I insist that printers deserve to eat, even dead ones. Ever since the Spirit of Alexander Graham Bell introduced me to the gramophone, I have been fascinated by the recording industry, and I have borrowed their model: free singles to get you in the door, and albums for those who want the full experience.
Browse. Read. Share. And if you are so moved, purchase a copy to hold in your hands. These words were always meant to travel from hand to hand. That is how the first Revolution spread. I see no reason to change the method.
B. Franklin, Printer Philadelphia; and the Hereafter